IIJS Premiere 2023 Inaugural Speech By Mr Paul Rowley, Executive VP, Diamond Trading, De Beers Group

On our guests, ladies and gentlemen, let me wish you a very warm good morning to India, to a little bit more warmth than I'm used to at the moment in Havre, bizarrely enough. So we're enjoying the heat. It's great to be back here at the IIJS in such an inspirational venue as Mumbai with all its energy here in India. Entrepreneurship, excitement, changes so fast these days. All these qualities, I think, are of great benefit to this wonderful nation. With change comes a lot of opportunity, and India is already one of the world's great diamond nations with leadership in the midstream, recently amplified on a global level as international news outlets reported on how Surat Diamond Bourse has overtaken the Pentagon as the world's largest office building — quite an achievement. But also in the downstream, where domestic consumer market is playing an increasingly central role in the global context. And to be, as we see, India as a hugely exciting source of opportunity, already one of the world's top markets. But it has also been the fastest growing major market this year, and I think to some extent it must be vying for number two behind the States, as we've seen a little bit more challenging times in China. It's got excellent potential, I think, for further growth. Growth and long-term outlook as we head towards Diwali and the wedding season is positive, with many retailers expecting further growth in sales, certain what we're hearing. And with the nation's economic development, we'll see the number of middle-class households grow. In fact, we expect the number of middle-class households to grow to somewhere in the region of 30 million in the next decade alone — something like almost 15 times the population of Botswana, where I call home today. So it gives you some sense of how important India is. It's clear that the landscape in India will be a perfect platform for growth, and the key to the achievement of that potential will be how the outstanding businesses here build on the insights into how the sector will ultimately evolve, because it's not just India that's changing, but the whole world, and changing at a much faster pace. Two of the most important trends we see at De Beers around provenance and lab-grown diamonds — hopefully perhaps the impact they have on the people and places on their journey to the consumer — let's bring some new challenges indeed, but more importantly, I think it brings huge opportunities. Such information enables us to create a stronger relationship between each unique natural diamond and the individual who ultimately owns it. We can tell much richer stories that will grow desirability for diamonds. And it appears we have created tools such as Tracer platform and the origin services from our Institute of Diamonds that will help all diamond companies to engage consumers in this new and compelling way. John has already spoken to the team; I can see some of them around here today, and I urge you to interact with the guys from Tracer and the origin services, and let's make sure we're pulling this together collectively. Secondly, as I mentioned, as the LGD sector, the lab-grown diamond sector, evolves, we see new opportunities opening up. I don't think it's much of a surprise to see that natural diamonds and LGDs are rapidly diverging from each other. In such an environment of change, once again the key is to understand how to capture the opportunity that change brings by looking at the insights. And the key insight into lab-grown diamonds is precisely that they are different and therefore need to be designed and marketed differently. Natural diamonds, as we heard from the people, are symbolic — symbolic of our most precious and enduring emotions and moments because they are ultimately unique, timeless, and have enduring value, just like those particular moments that they are there to record, to symbolize. LGDs perhaps don't have the same attributes, but they do have other really exciting things about them that offer a lot of potential as a complementary category. If you focus on the story of their innovation, how they can offer something new and different, whether that's colors or much more flexibility such as making the entire ring or the face of a watch, then of course this interlinks with accessible pricing. All of this presents the potential for LGDs to take a really exciting role in innovative products, accessories, and high-quality fashion jewelry. Reports from the LGD summit recently in Dubai had a similar view on the increasing differentiation and the distinct commercial opportunities of LGDs. And it seems to me that India — very much incredible India — is the ideal place to lead this change and capture this opportunity. A nation that is synonymous with innovation, efficiency, and sparkle is perfectly poised to help create this new space for the LGDs while also using its long tradition, focus on value, and desire for the best to maintain its leadership role in the natural diamond space. So here's to a great IIJS show, and here's very much to India — already a jewel in the global jewelry sector and one that is set to shine even brighter than ever before. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. Appreciate it.